As the Russia stories surrounding the criminal enterprise known as the Trump Administration continue to pile up, journalists all over network television are demanding answers. However, those journalists are usually not employees of Fox News. For many years, that particular network has generally been nothing more than a propaganda arm for the Christian Right and the most extreme elements of the Republican Party. However, there is one Fox journalist who has gone rogue: Shepard Smith.

Now, Smith has been known to buck against the more ridiculous or downright lying elements of his network before. That has included being openly critical of the Trump Administration when most folks there are walking the party line. He’s really taken things much further in that direction now, though, since the recent revelations regarding Trump’s mini me’s attempts to get dirt on Hillary Clinton from the Russians during the 2016 election season. Speaking with fellow more-reasonable-than-most Fox host Chris Wallace on Friday, Shep Smith went nuclear. Here is the transcript of that exchange from the Washington Post, which has called the diatribe Smith’s ‘Cronkite moment’:

“We’re still not clean on this, Chris [Wallace]. If there’s nothing there — and that’s what they tell us, they tell us there’s nothing to this and nothing came of it, there’s a nothingburger, it wasn’t even memorable, didn’t write it down, didn’t tell you about it, because it wasn’t anything so I didn’t even remember it — with a Russian interpreter in the room at Trump Tower? If all of that, why all these lies? Why is it lie after lie after lie? If you clean, come on clean, you know?

“My grandmother used to say when first we practice to — Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. The deception, Chris, is mind-boggling. And there are still people who are out there who believe we’re making it up. And one day they’re gonna realize we’re not and look around and go, Where are we, and why are we getting told all these lies?”

This is amazing, considering the culture over at Fox. Don’t fall in lockstep? You’re probably risking your job. Further, since Fox and their constant lies, spin, bigotry, misogyny, and all manner of distastefulness is so toxic to the other, more credible networks, a person might have a difficult time finding journalistic employment elsewhere. Given all of that, this was an amazingly courageous thing to do.

Thank you for bringing real news to America’s most deceitful network, Mr. Smith. Hats off to you, and keep it up. Perhaps CNN or – dare I say it – MSNBC will give you a shot should Fox heed the calls from deluded Trumpkins to fire you. MSNBC is my favorite network, and I’d definitely tune in.

Author: Shannon BarberShannon Barber is a self- described queer feminist and activist for racial equality, LGBT rights, women’s rights, and secular rights in America. She is a lifelong lover of words, though her educational background is in computer science. She currently writes for 2 liberal websites, and keeps her own humor blog for lesbians. She hopes to change the world, one mind at a time.